Milestones

I hit two major milestones in the last couple of weeks.  First off, I passed 1000 miles of cycling miles for 2011.  Now, most of those miles were on the trainer, and the trainer doesn't always accurately represent how far I've gone.  Okay, technically I wasn't actually GOING anywhere, so I guess most of those 1000 miles are virtual miles.  But, the work was anything but virtual, so I'm going to celebrate.  Yay me.

Second - and this is a bit of a bigger deal - I celebrated my 1-year blog-iversary. Woo hoo!

Way back in 2010 I started writing as a way to document my training experiences leading up to Ironman Wisconsin.  Go ahead, check out my first post.  Pretty modest, eh?  Well, the Ironman came and went, but the blog kept on going.  Sometimes I'd post about training, sometimes I'd post about food, and sometimes I'd post about all sorts of unrelated crap. 

In the end, things usually come back to training and racing.  I've had a lot of great experiences and met many groovy people through swimming, cycling and running.  In my mind, blogging about it is just a natural extension of being a member of this community.  Plus, I like writing, and this blog allows me to scratch that writing itch in a way that I usually don't have the opportunity to out there in the Real World.

So, I'll keep writing.  Sure, there's no big name triathlon this year, but I've got a marathon coming up in October, and all kinds of other goodies to look forward to this summer. 

Oh, and don't forget to 'Like' me on Facebook.  The more 'likes' that I have, the more it feeds my hungry ego, and the more entertaining I become.

I'm kinda like Audrey 2, except, instead of dentists, I eat Internet traffic.

Getting Psyched About Running

For those of you who aren't from around the Twin Cities, you probably don't know about the incredibly AWESOME weather we've been enjoying for the last couple of weeks.  This time of year is usually when God flips the season switch from 'Summer' to 'Freeze-your-butt-off'.  This year, we've been blessed with sunny days and highs in the mid 70s.  If it wasn't for the fact that the sun starts to set at 6:30pm, you'd think it was June.

Since the weather is gorgeous, but the daylight is limited, I've been doing a lot more runs lately.  Yesterday, I did my first long run (more than 8 miles) since the Ironman.  My aim was to just get out and stretch my legs and 'see how it went'.  Unfortunately, my Garmin was out of juice, so I had to do the run 'al fresco' - no time, no heart rate, just me and the road.  So, I made a mental note of the time on the microwave and took off to run around Medicine Lake.

The run was great.  It was kinda nice not to have constant reminders of how fast (or slow) I was going.  I tried to keep track of how long I stayed stopped at stoplights and drinking fountains so I could subtract that from my total time and get a general idea about how my pace was.  I was a little surprised that there weren't more people out there, considering now nice it was, but who am I to judge?

I kept the pace steady.  It wasn't easy, but it wasn't too strenuous either.  I just wanted to enjoy the evening, so I went at the 'speed of fun'.  In any event, I eventually made it home, about 20 minutes before sunset.  I did a little math and determined that I had been running for about 1:44 - give or take.  Then I hopped on 'mapmyrun.com' to figure out how far I had gone - 10.94 miles to be exact.  So, to make a long story even longer, during my 'fun run' I kept the same pace as my 1/2 marathon during the Liberty 1/2 Ironman.  Not too shabby.

Okay.  So, now I'm SUPER psyched about running.  In fact, I'm so psyched that I went ahead and signed up for the Team Ortho Monster Dash 10-Miler.  This will be my first running-only race since high school, and back in high school, we only ran 5Ks.  At more than 3 times that distance, this one will be interesting.

I'm also pretty excited for tomorrow.  The weather's supposed to be fantastic (again), and the Vikes don't play until Monday night, so I'm going to do a nice long bike ride, complete with photos and maybe even a good meal.  I'm going to enjoy tomorrow.  I'm going to enjoy the CRAP out of it.

In the mean time, I'm just going to kick my feet up with The Wife and enjoy what hopefully won't be the last Twins game of the year.  Good stuff.

Oh Happy Day

I'm so happy.  Tonight, a routine trip to the grocery store turned into a reminder of how sometimes life gives us exactly what we want. 

What am I talking about, you say?  How could something so mundane turn into something so wonderful?  I'll tell you what, and I'll tell you how.

They're in season again.


Honeycrisp Apples

Oh Happy Day.

You see, apples fall into two categories: Honeycrisp, and Other.  Red Delicious?  Granny Smith?  Macintosh?  Impostors.  Mere placeholders for the rest of the year serving only to remind you that there's something better to be had. 


Honeycrisps though.  Well, they're tree-born joy.  Happiness in fruit form.  They're crunchy and juicy and tart and sweet and all kinds of other awesome adjectives that I can't even think of right now because I'm so psyched that they're in season again. 

But a star that burns twice as bright, burns half as long.  These heavenly orbs are only in season for about one month every year.  That's okay though.  If they were available year-round I'd start to take them for granted.  Besides, absence makes the heart grow fonder.

So if you don't mind, I'm going to leave now - to be alone with my lover.  Don't tell The Wife.

I love you.  I want you inside me.

Home Owner: 1, Home Owner's Throne: 0

Today, I was planning to post about how to find quality races - races that are well organized and fun to compete in.  Instead, I'll be spending my time celebrate one of life's little victories.

I fixed my own toilet.

There's little worse than the feeling you get when you push your toilet lever...and nothing happens.  If you're a plumber, or mechanically inclined, this may not seem like a big deal.  When you've never had to deal with plumbing problems before, it can get downright scary.  I represent the later.

Using my instincts, I removed the top of the tank to take a look at the 'guts'.  Here is what I saw:

The tank is full and ready to go...or so I thought.

Okay.  Fine.  So, lets give it a flush now, shall we?

From what I could tell, when you push the lever, it lifts a chain, which in turn lifts a plunger, allowing the water to drain down into the bowl and wash away all the evil-ness.  But that wasn't happening here.

Notice, that the hinge is now separated from the plunger thingy that holds the water in the tank.

I removed both the hinge and the plunger thingy, reconnected them and clipped them back into place.  After the tank filled again, I gave it another try - same result.  Dang.

The offending equipment.

Okay. So reassembly wasn't going to work.  I took the parts out again and headed down to the hardware store.  But first, I expressed my true feelings to the failed plumbing hardware.

Serves 'em right for making me stick my hands in a toilet tank.

As usual, the local Ace hardware store had what I needed, and I was in-and-out in just a couple of minutes with a shiny new plunger thingy.

Notice that it's ONE piece - no chance for separation.

 The new part clipped easily into place.  The only thing left to do was wait and pray.  After the tank filled again, it was time for the moment of truth.  I pressed down the lever and heard the satisfying gurgle of a functioning throne!

Plunger up + water evacuating = SUCCESS!!

I was so excited with my handy-work that I waited for the tank to fill again just so I could waste water bask in the sweet, sweet glow of victory.

Aaahhh.  To the Victor go the spoils.

Sure.  It's a minor victory, but it's still a victory.  Yay.

That's all for today.  I'll be back soon to talk about what to look for when you're trying to decide which race(s) to do.

My Workouts have Multiple-Personality Disorder

I just finished the last few workouts in the most intense stretch of the year.  I'm tired.  A rest week couldn't come at a better time.  Here's what I've been up to:

Thursday

Nobody ever said that training for an Ironman would be easy.  Last Thursday turned out to be one of the least successful workouts of the year.  Going in, the plan was to do another 3-hour run, similar to the one from last week.  The only change is that I planned to go around Medicine Lake clockwise this time around.

When I left the house, loaded with pockets full of PowerGel, it was about 95 degrees.  At first, I thought about postponing the run until the weekend when the weather was cooler.  But, then I said to myself, "Self: don't puss out now.  You need to be prepared for a really hot run during the Ironman."  I should have listened to my gut, rather than my ego.

The first few miles were okay.  It usually takes me a mile or two to warm up my legs and get into a groove.  Today felt weird.  Maybe the fatigue from the last few weeks was getting to me, or maybe the heat does funny things to you, or maybe the fact I was a little 'backed up' was doing a number on my body.  Heck, it could have been all three, or none of the above.

All I know, is that by the time I hit mile 5, I was toast.  My heart rate was jumping into the high 160s even on a slow jog, I had a wicked side stitch, back spasms, and the black flies were eating me alive.  Add to that the fact that I now had a large lake between myself and home-sweet-home and you have a recipe for one sad panda.

I ended up walking most of miles 6-8, and was finally able to get a jog going again for the last mile or so towards the homestead.  My 3-hour 18+ mile run had turned into an 11-mile slog that took 2:20.  Blah.

Friday

Friday was a pool workout.  I like the pool.  I like to swim.  Shoot.  At this point, I'll do anything that will get me out of running shoes for a day.  The workout was a real confidence booster.  After a quick warmup   I had 3 intervals of 700 yards each, with increasing intensity.  This was identical to a workout from just a couple weeks ago, and the results were close to the same:

700y RPE3 - 11:27 = 1:38/100y
700y RPE4 - 11:02 = 1:34/100y
700y RPE5 - 10:43 = 1:31/100y


I was pleased.  After the disaster that Thursday turned out to be, it was nice to feel normal and somewhat successful.

Saturday

This was a beautiful day for a bike ride.  I did a variation on a 90-mile ride from 2 weeks ago, but added an extra 10 miles to make it an even century ride.  I tried to simulate race day as best I could.  I kept to gels, Shot Bloks and Endurolytes at regular intervals.  I did stop for water, Gatorade and a banana along the way - but water and bananas will be available on the course in Madison, and Gatorade was the only available energy drink at SuperAmerica that day.  I think this will be about as close as I'll get to race-day nutrition.

There weren't any major hiccups on the fuel side of things, which is a good sign.  The last thing I want is a bad case of The Toots when I'm on the run. 

It was a nice relaxed pace overall, but there were quite a few stoplights, especially along the southern portion of the route.  If you take out all the stops and starts, I'm guessing that my average speed could be a good 1 MPH faster.  If I can average 17 MPH during the Ironman, that'll get me out of the saddle in just a hair over 6.5 hours.  I'll take that any day.

In fact, to reward myself for another century ride, I decided to treat myself to not one, but TWO icee-fun-pops!

Sunday

Sunday was scheduled to be a rest day, but I was still cranky about my run on Thursday.  After taking most of the day easy, my ego decided that I wanted to go for a quick run to get my 'mojo' back.  It wouldn't be anything crazy - I was supposed to be starting a rest week after all.

I headed out from home along one of my normal  4.5 mile routes.  My first mile - mostly uphill - clocked in at 9:10.  Okay.  That's nice.  But can I do it again?  Mile number 2 was mostly flat.  It registered at 8:50.  Huh.  A negative split.  Papa likes.

Mile 3 had a bit of a downhill, so when I checked my Garmin and it said 8:27, I was pleased, but wanted more.  For mile 4 I hit the gas a little more.  I hammered it up the steep hill leading up to 36th Avenue and then booked it towards home as the seconds ticked away.  I managed to finish mile #4 in 8:08.  Wow-Four negative splits in a row.  That IS nice.

I ran the last 1/5 of a mile towards home at a near sprint before taking a breather and then heading out for a 15-minute cooldown. Man.  That felt good.

I know that a 5-mile run doesn't require anywhere near the effort that a 18+ mile run does, but it feels good to know that I've still got some good efforts in me somewhere.  Hopefully, I'll be able to find some more of that mojo come race day.

Hot Dog, We Have a Wiener!

Hey kids!  It'll be a short post today.  I'll get you some more to chew on tomorrow - there will be plenty of cool stuff like melt-y bike rides, tempo runs and pool repeats.  The news today is about free gear.  Better yet - free gear for ME.

Remember my post the other day that included some contests I entered?  Well, holy crap, I won one!  Ryder's will be sending me a shiny new pair of VTX shades thanks to Steve in a Speedo.

Those are some sweet shades!  Thanks Ryders!  Thanks Steve!

The contest couldn't have come at a better time.  My Tifosi Slips have had a rough couple of months.  Two of the four lenses are scratched and the tip broke off one of the arms the other day.  I'm really looking forward to taking these out for a spin.

Check back soon for some actual tri-related postings - this time I PROMISE.